Swimming pools

ABSTRACT

The swimming pool is provided with edges having a gentle slope with respect to the static water surface in the pool so that wave reflection from the edges of the pool is eliminated.

United States Patent 1 1 3,577,570

[72] Inventor Georges Vincent [56] References Cited IN g i g UNITED STATES PATENTS gff Mar81968 2,932,397 4/1960 Ogden 4/172.17x 2,982,970 5/1961 Kennedy 4/172.l8

[45] Patented May4, 1971 [73] Assignee Societe Grenobloise d--Etudes et gg $62 4/ 1 4,;

Applications flydrauliques (sogreah) ltten, r Grenoble, France Primary ExaminerLaveme D. Geiger [32] Priority Mar. 8, 1967 Assistant Examiner-Henry K. Artis [33] France Attorneys-Sylvester J. Liddy, John J. Hart, Joe E. Daniels [3 l 5070 and Dayton R. Stemple, Jr.

[54] SWIMMING POOLS 12 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 4/ 172.17 ABSTRACT: The swimming pool is provided with edges hav- [51] Int. Cl E04h 3/18 ing a gentle slope with respect to the static water surface in the [50] Field of Search 4/ 172, pool so that wave reflection from the edges of the pool is 172.18, 172.17, 172.15, 172.21 eliminated.

PATENTEDHAY 4|97| 3,577,570

sum 2 or 2 /NVENTOR. 650E655 VINCENT SWIMMING POOLS THE INVENTION This invention relates to swimming pools and is of special advantage for swimming pools used for training and competition purposes.

In swimming meets, each competitor swims down a lane marked by two parallel lines formed by various devices. As a general rule, such devices are not fully efficient in isolating the individual lanes from one another, and surface wave or wash caused by a swimmer in one lane spreads to the other lanes and the pool edges. Suchsurface wave or wash spreading from one lane to the next, or exchanged between several lanes, or between the lanes and the pool edges, are apt to interfere with the smooth running of swimming races. Fairer conditions for each competitor would result if it were possible to make the surface waves in each lane completely independent of those in the other lanes, or at least of ensuring that the waves in each lane remained small enough so as not to hinder the swimmers in the other lanes.

It has been found that waves in a swimming pool can be appreciably reduced if wave reflection from its sides can be eliminated. It is accordingly the principal purpose of this invention to provide a swimming pool designed to prevent reflection of the waves from the sides of the pool.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved method of cleaning the surface of the water in the swimming pool.

Other objects of the invention, as well as the advantages thereof, will become apparent from a perusal of the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings which show by way of example two embodiments of the invention, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional elevational view of a swimming pool edge embodying the invention, the section being taken along the line 1-1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. I and showing a top view of a portion of the side edge of the pool; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of a pool edge showing another embodiment of the invention.

In FIG. I of the drawings, the reference letter N indicates the static water level in a swimming pool, the sidewalls of which are generally designed 10. The top of the sidewalls are formed to provide what may be called an enclosing beach 11 which slopes slightly, upwardly and outwardly, from its inner edge which is located below the water level N. The sloping beach may be either flat or convex in shape, and when made convex it is preferred that the angle of the tangent to the beach curvature with respect to the horizontal plane may decrease from the part of the beach deepest under water, i.e., its inner edge, towards the part thereof above water.

It will be understood from the foregoing, that any waves created in the pool by splashing or swimming will break on the enclosing beach 11 in the manner ocean waves break on a shore and dissipate their energy on the beach 11 instead of being reflected back into the pool as now occurs in presently constructed pools. Because of the slight slope of the enclosing beach 11 there will be substantially no reflection of the waves by such beach. With the elimination of such wave reflection, the disturbances created in the surface of the water will be materially reduced and will not tend 'to build up to the extent that they become a hindrance to swimming in the pool.

The beach 11 may be made as an uninterrupted surface as is the case of the beach 12 shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings, or it may be provided with elements capable of increasing wave dissipation, such as suitable projections, or orifices such as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the latter of which have the additional advantage of enabling the pool to be effectively cleaned. These wave-dissipation elements may be of any number, or arrangement, or shape. Thus, they may be clongated, lie parallel to the pool edge generatrix, and they may either be in line, or staggered.

In the construction illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, by way of example, the wave-dissipation elements in the form of orifices are composed of a longitudinally extending series of spaced, elongated orifices 14 located on the beach 11 so that they are below the static water level N adjacent to the line 15 formed by such water level with the surface of the beach 11. Arranged parallelly to the orifices 14 are a plurality of longitudinally extending series of spaced, elongated orifices 16. The series of orifices 16 are positioned on the beach 11 outwardly from the orifices 14 so that they are above the static water level N. As indicated the orifices 16in the series thereof may be arranged in staggered relation and may be of less width than the orifices 14. Spaced outwardly from the series of orifices 16 is an outermost series of orifices 17 arranged parallely to the series of orifices l4 and 16. The orifices 17 may be substantially wider than the orifices 14 and 16 so that any water reaching them may pass substantially entirely therethrough.

It will be understood that with the aforesaid arrangement of orifices when a wave reaches the beach 11, it is caused to break by the incline of the beach and the series of orifices 14, 16 and 17, and part of such wave is absorbed by the passage of 'the water thereof through such orifices so that its energy is dissipated in the process. As the water drains off through the openings 14, 16 and 17, any dirt in the waves goes through such openings with it into a chamber 18 formed below the beach 11 between the wall constituting such beach and a bottom wall 19 spaced below the latter. The wall 19 also slopes upwardly and outwardly but at a slope which is steeper than the average slope of beach 11 and such that the beach or wall 11 and wall 19 are joined together at their outer edges and diverge inwardly from such juncture. The inner edges of the walls 11 and 19 are joined by a longitudinally extending gutter section 20 which together with such walls form the chamber 18. Thus, the heavier particles of dirt which pass through the openings l4, l6 and 17 into the chamber 18, will sink to the bottom thereof and slide down the bottom wall 19 into the gutter 20. The lighter dirt particles that pass through such openings into the chamber 18 will remain on the surface 21 of the portion of the pool water in chamber 18 when the waves withdraw and the water forming the same drains back into the pool through the lower series of orifices l6 and the orifices 14. These light particles drain away when the surface of the water in the pool is cleaned.

The construction of FIG. 1 enables the pool to be cleaned by a very simple operation and with very little loss of water. It is accomplished by draining ofl the contents of the gutter 20 in any suitable manner. As the gutter 20 is drained, the water content of the chamber 18 will empty out through such gutter and carry off with it the light particles on the surface 21 thereof. At the same time, water from the surface of the pool will flow toward the gutter through the openings 14 and carry with it any dirt remaining on the surface of the body of the pool. This whole operation takes place with a comparatively small amount of fall h in the water level. The amount of fall it can be controlled by setting the openings 14 in the wall 11 at the requisite height with relation to the water level N and providing them with the requisite width to control the amount of such fall, as is indicated in FIG. 1 by the two reference lines designating such fall h. As the discharge of water through the openings 14 can be made to take place either on both sides of the pool simultaneously, or around its whole periphery, uniform cleaning of the whole surface layer of the water is assured.

In order to facilitate cleaning of the beach 11 and the sloping bottom wall 19 beneath it, a water duct or channel 22 may be formed at the juncture of the upper outer edges of such walls, and connecting such duct 22 to an outside supply of water in any suitable manner. Thus when such cleaning operation is to take place, a flow of clean water is provided in the duct 22 such as to cause the cleaning water to flow downwardly on the beach 11 and through the openings 17 onto the'upper part of the bottom wall 19. The cleaning water will thus clean the uppermost part of the beach 11 and empty .3 through the openings 17 and 16 carrying the dirt-with it. The water dropping ongth ebogom wall 19 will flow down the top surface thereof which has been tposed by the draining of the gutter 20 and wash aiiy'dir't thereon into the gutter.

A longitudinally extending protuberance 23 may be formed along the bottom inner edge of the beach or wall 1 l to provide a hand rail for the swimmers. This protuberance 23 should be set at sufficient depth below the water level N to prevent its in terfere'nce with the wave-damping and -dissipating action of the beach 11. In order to maintain the continuity of the pool edge shape and to facilitate the cleanliness of the beach 11, an overhanging roof 24 may be provided over the beach with adequate spacing between its lower face and the upper surface of beach 1 l.

.It will be seen from the foregoing that the construction of FIGS. l and 2, provides a wave-breaking and wave-energy-dissipating beach that forms part of a pool drainage and cleaning system. The apertures in such beach allows the water to discharge through them during the rising and falling motion of the waves in the pool when the latter is in use for the purpose of. increasing wave dissipation and simultaneously providing an outlet for dirt washed onto the beach by the waves. When the pool is being cleaned such openings enable the water surface layer of the pool to be cleaned. The parts forming such construction may be made of any suitable materials and may be made of preformed blocks or cast directly on the pool site. The beach 11 can also be made'in detachable sections to facilitate cleaning operations. As is shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings, the inner edge of the overhanging roof 24 may be supported by a plurality of spaced vertical supports 25 mounted on the inner edge of the beach.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the beach 12 is uninterrupted and is provided at its top or outer edge with a longitudinally extending gutter 26. With this construction, when the incoming waves indicated by the line 27 break along the beach they will dissipate their energy on the sloping beach and any dirt that may be in the water will be washed into the gutter 26 with a small quantity of water. The water coming into the gutter 26 will drain away to a suitable place for discharge, or for clean ing and then pumped back into the pool if further use thereof is desired. To clean the static water surface in the pool, water' is added to the latter to raise such surface until the pool overflows into the gutter 26 and with it any dirt on the surface thereof.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been hereinabove described and illustrated in the drawings, it will 7 be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications thereof may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thus, the construction of FIGS. 1 and 2 may be simplified by providing only a single row or series of openings 14in the beach 11 so that their principal function would be the cleaning of the water surface of the pool. Accordingly, it is intended to cover all possible alternative layouts of the invention coming within the scope of the appended claims.

lclaim:

l. A swimming pool having at least one sidewall provided with a relatively wide upper surface which slopes upwardly and outwardly with respect to the static water surface so as to form an energy-dissipating beach capable of reducing wave deflection from the associated edge of the pool, said sloping upper surface extending. upwardly from a longitudinal linev located inwardly of and below the juncture of the static water surface therewith so that the inner portion thereof is submerged in the pool water, and said sloping upper wall surface continuing beyond such juncture to a line spaced outwardly of and above such juncture, said sloping surface having associated therewith means for removing water in a wave breaking on said sloping surface, and an overhanging roof which exand the water-removing action of said means, said overhanging roof beinghspaced in its entirety above said upperslopin surface and e static water surface and defining with sal upper sloping surface an inwardly converging space into which passes the waves breaking on such upper sloping surface.

2. A swimming pool as defined in claim 1, in which said water-removing means is constituted of a longitudinally extending gutter provided at the outer edge of said upper surface.

3. A swimming pool as defined in claim 1, including a longitudinally extending hand rail at the inner edge of said upper surface and located below the outer edge of said overhanging roof and below the static water surface of the pool at sufficient depth as not to interfere with the wave damping action of said upper surface.

4. A swimming pool having at least one sidewall provided with a relatively wide upper surface which slopes upwardly and outwardly with respect to the static water surface so as to form an energy-dissipating beach capable of reducing wave deflection from the associated edge of the pool, said sloping upper surface extending upwardly from a longitudinal line located inwardly of and below the juncture of the static water surface therewith so that the inner portion thereof is submerged in the pool water, and said sloping upper wall surface continuing beyond such juncture to a line spaced outwardly of and above such juncture, wave dissipation elements associated with said sloping surface and disposed in the path of waves created in the pool and breaking on such sloping surface, and means for removing water in a wave breaking on said sloping surface.

5. A swimming pool as defined in claim 4, in which said wave dissipation elements are constituted of a plurality of openings provided in said upper sloping surface and permitting water in a wave to pass therethrough.

6. A swimming pool as defined in claim 5, in which certain of said openings are located in said inner portion of said sloping upper surface and below the static water surface of the pool.

7. A swimming pool as defined in claim 5, in which certain of said openings are located in said upper sloping surface outwardly of the juncture of the static water surface with such upper sloping surface.

8; A swimming pool as defined in claim 5, in which said water-removing means is constituted of a longitudinally extending gutter provided beneath the inner edge of said upper surface, said openings in said upper sloping surface forming a connection between said gutter and the pool water.

9. A swimming pool as defined in claim 5, in which said water-removing means includes means forming a water chamber beneath said upper surface and into which pool water is received through said openings, and means for draining the water in said chamber.

10. A swimming pool as defined in claim 9, in which said chamber-forming means comprises va sloping wall located beneath and providing a chamber surface spacedv from said upper surface.

11. A swimming. pool as defined in claim 9, in which said drainage means comprises a longitudinally extending gutter formed in the inner side of said chamber.

12. A swimming pool as defined in claim 4, in which said wave dissipation elements are constituted of a plurality of members projecting above said sloping surface to obstruct the movement of waves up said sloping surface. 

1. A swimming pool having at least one sidewall provided with a relatively wide upper surface which slopes upwardly and outwardly with respect to the static water surface so as to form an energydissipating beach capable of reducing wave deflection from the associated edge of the pool, said sloping upper surface extending upwardly from a longitudinal line located inwardly of and below the juncture of the static water surface therewith so that the inner portion thereof is submerged in the pool water, and said sloping upper wall surface continuing beyond such juncture to a line spaced outwardly of and above such juncture, said sloping surface having associated therewith means for removing water in a wave breaking on said sloping surface, and an overhanging roof which extends over said upper sloping surface so as to entirely cover the latter and prevent users of the pool interfering with the wave-energy-dissipating action of said upper sloping surface and the water-removing action of said means, said overhanging roof being spaced in its entirety above said upper sloping surface and the static water surface and defining with said upper sloping surface an inwardly converging space into which passes the waves breaking on such upper sloping surface.
 2. A swimming pool as defined in claim 1, in which said water-removing means is constituted of a longitudinally extending gutter provided at the outer edge of said upper surface.
 3. A swimming pool as defined in claim 1, including a longitudinally extending hand rail at the inner edge of said upper surface and located below the outer edge of said overhanging roof and below the static water surface of the pool at sufficient depth as not to interfere with the wave damping action of said upper surface.
 4. A swimming pool having at least one sidewall provided with a relatively wide upper surface which slopes upwardly and outwardly with respect to the static water surface so as to form an energy-dissipating beach capable of reducing wave deflection from the associated edge of the pool, said sloping upper surface extending upwardly from a longitudinal line located inwardly of and below the juncture of the static water surface therewith so that the inner portion thereof is submerged in the pool water, and said sloping upper wall surface continuing beyond such juncture to a line spaced outwardly of and above such juncture, wave dissipation elements associated with said sloping surface and disposed in the path of waves created in the pool and breaking on such sloping surface, and means for removing water in a wave breaking on said sloping surface.
 5. A swimming pool as defined in claim 4, in which said wave dissipation elements are constituted of a plurality of openings provided in said upper sloping surface and permitting water in a wave to pass therethrough.
 6. A swimming pool as defined in claim 5, in which certain of said openings are located in said inner portion of said sloping upper surface and below the static water surface of the pool.
 7. A swimming pool as defined in claim 5, in which certain of said openings are located in said upper sloping surface outwardly of the juncture of the static water surface with such upper sloping surface.
 8. A swimming pool as defined in claim 5, in which said water-removing means is constituted of a longitudinally extending gutter provided beneath the inner edge of said upper surface, said openings in said upper sloping surface forming a connection between said gutter and the pool water.
 9. A swimming pool as defined in claim 5, in which said water-removing means includes means formIng a water chamber beneath said upper surface and into which pool water is received through said openings, and means for draining the water in said chamber.
 10. A swimming pool as defined in claim 9, in which said chamber-forming means comprises a sloping wall located beneath and providing a chamber surface spaced from said upper surface.
 11. A swimming pool as defined in claim 9, in which said drainage means comprises a longitudinally extending gutter formed in the inner side of said chamber.
 12. A swimming pool as defined in claim 4, in which said wave dissipation elements are constituted of a plurality of members projecting above said sloping surface to obstruct the movement of waves up said sloping surface. 